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Guitar you didn't buy and still kicking yourself...


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Posted

ok, my biggest regret... Brad Whitford of Aerosmith was unloading lots of his guitars/amps year or two ago. All stuff of course was on ebay and attracted high bids, so I gave up... to find out later that one Daytona went for 900$, which was nice guitar by itself and owned by one of my most favored band's member. Jeeez, I'm still feel kinda stupid I stopped looking at the list of gear...

Now guys you tell something more interesting. like not taking Zakk Wylde's instrument he generosly offered for free if you buy him a beer in the pub where he was already having too much, or something ;)

Posted

This one:

mon3full2.jpg

It was on the HFC board for a long time, I think the price was even reduced, but at the time I just couldn't swing it. I still can't to be honest, but damn it's one I WANT!

Posted

Sunburst Strat w/ clay dots on a rosewood board. Could have gotten in used in '66 for $50; I was 16 and my finances were directed more towards the great American ritual of car dating ($ spent on gallons of Brut, etc.).

Posted

Any one of three different '58 or '59 bursts on the wall at Southworth Guitars in DC back in 1982 or so. He was asking $12k each back then.

Posted

1987: Left-handed white Greco Firebird in Boston's Guitar Garage. D'OH!

(The reason I am still kicking myself was the realization there's no time to "ponder" buying a unique lefty instrument... and I have been "paying" for that ever since.)

Posted

that sweet ass candy apple red Tele I was watching on the bay...THE one owned by Elliot Easton-I talked myself out of it, and I think it bid out at 2300-2400 bucks....it haunts me, but I did discover Tom Anderson afterwards(I bought a drop top Hollow T to make up for my remorse,and I am very happy!)

Posted

I can't count the number of gold top Les Pauls I passed over at pawn shops in the mid 60's. the going rate for them was about

$75. I thought they were too heavy and out of style!

ArnieZ

Posted

It was around '83 or '84. It was new in the GC in Chicago (back when GC was a real store) for something like $650 or $700. Don't have a pic of the actual, but it was really similar to this. I seem to remember the one in Chicago had sharkfins, too, but i could be wrong on that.

jimmy-detleft.jpg

Posted

J Geils offered me a killer 1959 Les Paul in dark burst at the Philly show in 1995 for the very cool price(at the time) of $23k. I still look at the pics and cry.

Posted

That list is way too long. If I had to pick one; the Mickey Baker Model 1958 Les paul Custom at The Guitar Shop in Orlando Florida in 1984. I think it was $3,200. The case was stripped and painted black. I remember that being the deal breaker. Idiot.

Posted

To tell the truth, every one that I've missed something better has come along.

+1

Back when I only had one Hamer, I missed out on a black Newport. I really wanted it, but decided to be patient and wait for the next one to come up. I didn't realize they were rare at the time! And, I couldn't wrap myself around liking anything colored "Transparent Sparkle Orange". Sounds like the color on a pimp's car in a 1970s movie.

The Newport I eventually got was BUTT CHEAP. I put in an ebay bid on a whim, totally lowball, and got it for $150 less than the lowball max bid I'd entered.

It was almost perfect. It is the most versatile guitar I own, TSO is a hell of a lot classier in person than you'd expect by the name of the color, and it gets played to death.

I still dig the black, but missing it led me to a monster deal.

Posted

Microsoft stock in 1979. Bill Gates was advertising in computer geek magazines, looking for investors, and I remember wishing I had a $1000 to invest.

Had I done so, then today I could buy all guitars I want - none would get away!

Posted

I had a nagging feeling that I had one of these in my past but couldn't put my finger on it until the parlor guitar thread reminded me.

Nine years ago my neighborhood vintage shop, Guitarville, had a 1904 Washburn parlor guitar with all the cool inlays of the time, a nice boat neck, ebony board, Adirondack spruce (the best-sounding spruce) top, and Brazilian rosewood body and neck. It was in excellent condition and played and sang beautifully. They marked it down to $999 and while I was thinking it over for a couple of days it sold.

Posted

Several...

'64 SG Special that the guy offered up for $400. I really wanted that thing, but since I was so broke at the time, I didn't even get near it for fear of falling head over heels for it.

'68 Tele that had relic'd into this odd orange/white Holstein cow pattern. At the time, I didn't have any appreciation of Teles.

'61 SG/Les Paul Junior that this older gent traded for a new MIM Strat with FLOYD ROSE. I shamed the salesman for that transaction. Anyhoo, as I checked it out, the old man warned me not to play any music on it that was "Unsanctified". So I waited til he left & started blasting Black Sabbath riffs with it.

All of these happened back in my early 20s when I was in college, at the time if it woulda cost me a nickel to poop, I'd had to throw up instead.

Posted

Non-Hamer:

In 1994, Dave's Guitar Shop in Lacrosse had a 1982 Heritage Series Flying V in Candy Apple Red - all original and truly MINT w/OHSC. $995.

Hamer:

The first Electraglide at the Washington, DC (3Bees) Guitar Show in 1990 or '91. A dealer from WVA had it tagged at $650. I had just bought a beautiful Mary Kaye Strat and was low on cash, but the guy said he'd hold it for me until the next day. I pulled it out of the booth and snapped a couple of pics and then he put it back in the case.

Came back the next morning and it had been sold to a Jpns dealer who just pointed at things and loaded them on pallets. An HFC'er "rescued" that from the Land of the Rising Sun a few years back in a commando mission, so it's back in the States.

I've never gotten over that one!

I know we're limited to just one, but I'll take the loophole and add a 4-digit, single-X2N Flametop Standard bass in Chuck Levin's used section back in '95. $300, and they'd deal on it. That one sold locally for less than the asking price, and I'm still waiting for it to show up on a local Craigslist or in the CityPaper...

Posted

My beloved '78 Explorer...I had the chance to buy it back in 1986 from the dealer who bought it from me, but I was still too poor to get it...

Posted

Korina Eclipse.

-Jonathan

I know they exist because DaveH had one. I remember it vivdly because he got a bargain. It had some electronics issues when he got it and he tried a couple of different pups, but overall a very cool item. He's a Korina whore in general, and most of his favorites are made of it, so he couldn't pass it up.

I can't find a pic of it right now, but it's out there somewhere.

Posted

I had my black FB bass on order and coming into the store... there was a black and white striped model that sold me on Hamer hanging in the rack the whole time. I wish I'd had the coin to buy both... ;)

Posted

pick only 1? that's easy for me... in 1985 i was fresh out of college and my son was just 5 years old and i had a chance to buy a 59 Les Paul that was then just 26 years old (like myself). and folks, let me tell you... this thing was almost MINT... nicely faded to a burnt orange, just beautiful... price? well, what was THEN a whopping price of $8,500. i chose not to do it... i was a single parent at the time and that was a lot of money to spend (though i had the money)... but i felt like i really shouldn't spend that sort of coin when i had a young son to raise.

kicked myself many times over that one... need i say more?

but... who knew?

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